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Sound Transit
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Sound Transit has been the popular name of Washington state's Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority since 1996. It was formed in 1993 by the Snohomish, King, and Pierce County Councils. It operates express bus, commuter rail, and light rail service in the region and constructs capital projects in support and expansion of those services.
Express Bus
Sound Transit's express bus fleet is operated by local transit authorities Community Transit, Metro Transit, and Pierce Transit. Its Regional Express Bus Service provides service to cities in all three counties, including Seattle, Redmond, Issaquah, Lakewood, Bellevue, Auburn, Federal Way, Gig Harbor, Everett and Tacoma.
Light RailSound Transit's light rail system consists of a 1.6-mile line known as the Tacoma Link, in Tacoma connecting the city's Theater District, Convention Center, train station, and Tacoma Dome arena.
Future plansThe Central Link, a 15.7 mile light rail line running between downtown Seattle and Sea-Tac Airport via the Rainier Valley, is currently under construction, scheduled to open in 2009.
The University Link is a 3.15 mile extension of the Link Light Rail system that is currently in the final design process. Construction on the line is expected to begin in 2009 with completion in 2016. The line will connect downtown Seattle to the University of Washington via Capitol Hill. The line will be underground for its entire route and cost about $1.5 billion with half of the funding expected to come from a grant from the Federal Transit Administration.
Sound Transit 2 Sound Transit 2 (ST2) was part of a joint ballot measure with the Regional Transportation Investment District entitled Roads and Transit, which was presented to Snohomish, King, and Pierce county voters on November 6 2007. Sound Transit 2 would have made a number of mass transit related improvements. These changes included almost 50 miles in new light rail lines, four new parking garages, two new Sounder stations, a streetcar line connecting First Hill, Capitol Hill, and the International District, a transit center in Bothell, and two expansion studies, one for studying rapid transit across the SR-520 floating bridge and the other studying the use of the Woodinville Subdivision between Renton and Woodinville. The ballot measure was defeated by voters.
Currently, the Sound Transit board is considering an update to ST2. On January 31 2007, the board met to propose one option to the update, including: a shorter extension of the Link Light Rail system, a new commuter rail corridor on the Eastside, 2 new street car systems, and rapid bus transit. The proposed East Link Light Rail would depart from Downtown Seattle and end in Overlake via Bellevue. Tacoma Link would be extended to Fife from the current terminus at Tacoma Dome Station and be extended from the Theatre District/South 9th to Tacoma Community College. Central Link is proposed to be extended from Seatac to Kent/Des Moines and the UW to Northgate. A First Hill Streetcar is proposed from Central Link's Capitol Hill Station to the Jackson Street terminus of the current Waterfront Streetcar. No explicit details on the proposed Everett Streetcar have been provided aside from the connection at Everett Station. A new commuter rail line is proposed to run from North Renton to Snohomish. The Sound Transit board will vote on a final update in May and whether the proposal should go to voters in November 2008 or in November 2010.
Commuter RailSound Transit operates the Sounder Commuter Rail, a commuter rail service between Everett and Seattle, and between Seattle and Tacoma. There are currently 4 daily round-trips between Tacoma and Seattle and 2 between Everett and Seattle. Sound Transit will eventually run up to 18 daily round-trips from Tacoma and 4 from Everett to Seattle once all trackwork is completed by BNSF Railway. They also plan on extending service to South Tacoma and Lakewood by 2010.
Current and soon-to-open stations are:
Fleet| Sounder Commuter Rail |
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| Mfg | Model | Length | Passengers | Purchased | Retired | Qty.* | Fleet Numbers |
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| GM Electro Diesel | F59PH1, 3000 horsepower | 58'-7" | NA | 1999 | in service | 11 | 900-910 |
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| 2000 | in service | | 2001 | in service | | Bombardier | Cab Car | 85' | 136 (seated) | 1999 | in service | 18 | ???-??? |
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| 2000 | in service | | 2001 | in service | | Bombardier | BiLevel Coach | 85' | 140 (seated) | 1999 | in service | 40 | ???-??? |
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| 2000 | in service | | 2001 | in service | >Link Light Rail | | Mfg | Motor | Length | Passengers | Purchased | Retired | Qty.* | Fleet Numbers |
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| Kinkisharyo | Mitsui 1500V-DC Electric Traction | 95' | 200 (74/126) | 2007 | testing | 35 | 101-135 |
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| Skoda | 750V-DC Electric Traction | 66' | 56 (30/26) | 2001 | in service | 3 | 1001-1003 |
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>ST Express Busses | | Model | Motor | Length | Passengers | Purchased | Retired | Qty.* | Fleet Numbers |
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| New Flyer DE60LF | Cat C9/GMHybrid | 60' | 57 (seated) | 2005 | in service | 22 | 9600-9621 |
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| New Flyer D60LF | Detroit Diesel Engines Series 50 | 60.7' | 60 (seated) | 1999 | in service | 25 | 9500-9524, 9525-9536, 9537-9552 |
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| Detroit Diesel Engines Series 50 | 2000 | 12 | | CAT (Caterpillar) C9 engine | 2004 | 16 | | New Flyer DE40LF | Cummins ISL | 40' | 37 (seated) | 2003 | in service | 1 | 9200 |
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| New Flyer C40LF | Cummins ISL C-Gas+ 250/280 HP?
| 40.8' | 39 (seated) | 2001 | in service | 20 | 9400-9419 |
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| Gillig PHANTOM | Cummins ISM Engine | 40' | 45 (seated) | 1999 | in service | 92 | 9000-9069, 9070-9089, 9090-9091 |
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| Cummins ISM Engine | 2001 | | Cummins ISL Engine | 2005 | | Motor Coach Industries D4500 | Low emission Detroit Diesel EGR Series 60 NOx 2.5 | 45' | 57 (seated) | 2005 | in service | 13 | 9700-9712 |
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| Orion V | Cummins L10 260G | 40' | 45 (seated) | 1994 | in service | 27 | 800-827 |
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| 1995 | 2 |
See also
External links
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